


Boyfriends

by melondery



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, High School AU, M/M, Polyamory, emo jisung, football player jaemin, jaemchensung, norenhyuck, theyre all kinda dumb about relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 21:04:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19027900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melondery/pseuds/melondery
Summary: jisung is heartbroken— at least until some secrets come out.





	Boyfriends

maybe if he hadn’t waited so long, jisung could’ve had everything. if he hadn’t spent year after year after year aimlessly pining, if he hadn’t spent every school dance staring from across the gym and every math class daydreaming about a love he thought he’d never had. now, he knows nothing will ever be the same. he’s lost a love he wasted years longing for, and he’s lost a friend as well.

chenle knew. he knew, dammit, and he still did the one thing he knew jisung couldn’t forgive. chenle was the only person jisung had ever trusted with his secret: that he’s hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with jaemin. somehow, none of that stopped chenle from agreeing to be jaemin’s boyfriend, and now everything was wrong.

jisung has already blocked chenle’s number. he did it the second renjun messaged him with that heads up: “hey, sungie, i figured i’d better tell you before someone else does, but uh jaemin just asked chenle out and uh chenle said yes :/“

still, he feels as though his heart were empty. before, when jaemin had been “nana” with all the implicit heart emojis and chenle had been “lele” with the winky-tongue-out emoji in his contact, things had been simple. jaemin took up half of jisung’s heart, and chenle took up the other half. now, they were just jaemin and chenle. no more hope that one day, jaemin might notice him. no more inside jokes or late night rants with chenle. just emptiness.

by the time jisung falls asleep, the sun is already on the edge of the horizon, rising ever so slowly. there’s a football game today, the first of the season, and jisung’s plans to go and see his friends and watch jaemin play have all been tossed out the window. jaemin wouldn’t notice jisung, anyways. he wouldn’t see the boy cheering for him in the stands, since he’d be too focused on chenle. jaemin and chenle. not jaemin and jisung. never jaemin and jisung.

as it turns out, jisung has to go to the football game— something about “the electrician has to come fix the broken whatever in our ceiling” and “you don’t wanna be in his way, do you?” that jisung’s mom had spouted off before leaving for yet another business meeting. so, jisung throws on a hoodie and walks out the door. he knows he’s gonna be late, but he doesn’t care.

as it turns out, jisung is so late to the game that he doesn’t have to pay admission. that’s good, since he didn’t bring money anyways. even from the very top row of the stands, jisung can see jaemin out on the field. with a bit of searching, jisung can also pick out chenle’s bleached blonde hair by the railing separating the stands and the field. figures, chenle would be here for jaemin’s big game. figures, no one invited jisung. 

twenty minutes after he gets there, jisung leaves the game. he can’t go home, he knows that much. so he just walks. 

jisung looks up, and he doesn’t know where he is. this side of town is alien to him. he sighs, and sits down on the sidewalk. he has no idea how to get back home. the sun is already kissing the horizon and painting the clouds a soft fuchsia. when night falls, jisung needs to be at home. 

“hey, renjun?” jisung mumbles into his phone.

“what’s up, jisung?”

“can you give me a ride?”

“yeah, where are you?”

“god, i have no idea. let me send you my location real quick,” jisung does just that.

“i might be a few minutes though,” renjun continues. “i have to drop off jaemin and chenle first.”

“i—“ tears come dangerously close to spilling out of jisung’s wide eyes. “i need to be home by nightfall,” every word is agonizing.

“i can come get you before dropping them off...” renjun trails off. clearly he thinks it’s a bad idea, but jisung has no choice.

“would you?” jisung asks.

“i’ll be there in five minutes.”

five minutes turns out to feel like five hours. the sun’s movement seems to slow down, and time feels like molasses. the only thing that doesn’t slow down is the rising tightness in jisung’s chest.

renjun pulls up beside jisung in his beat-up toyota camry. renjun’s boyfriend, donghyuck, is already sitting in the front seat. jisung has to sit in the back. with chenle. and jaemin.

“jisung! hi!” jaemin chirps. he’s always so sweet, jisung thinks. 

jaemin ends up squishing into the middle seat. jisung tenses every muscle in a futile effort to not touch the boy that broke his heart. their legs end up pressed against each other, and jisung can’t move any closer to the door. he’s stuck, at least until he gets home.

renjun and donghyuck are painfully silent. chenle keeps his head down. only jaemin doesn’t seem to realize anything’s wrong. after his latest attempt to start a conversation, jisung leans forward to look over jaemin at chenle.

“did you not tell him?” jisung spits.

“i didn’t— i didn’t wanna make things worse than they already were.” chenle continues to stare at the back of the passenger seat.

jisung can’t help but laugh. “you didn’t wanna make things worse? great job, chenle. really great job.”

“i didn’t want to hurt you, jisung, really—“

“god, chenle, stop pretending that our friendship ever mattered. you knew exactly what you were doing when you said yes. you got jaemin, but you lost me.”

“jisung, please— please listen to me. it was either say yes or—“ chenle halts.

“or what, chenle? enlighten me. what other option was there, that was somehow worse that dating the boy you know i’m in love with?”

jaemin opens his mouth to say something, but the vicious look on jisung’s face must stop him.

“jisung,” a tear rolls down chenle’s cheek. “it was either say yes to jaemin, or keep pretending that being friends with you is enough for me.”

“what?” jisung’s lips part in shock.

“goddammit, park jisung, i’m just as in love with you as you are with jaemin.”

“wait— why are you dating jaemin if you— if you like me?” 

“well i... i like him too.”

jisung rubs his temples. “maybe if you’d told me instead of going behind my back, i could’ve told you about the crush i had on you. maybe i could’ve told you that the reason i focused so much on jaemin was because i wanted to forget i liked you. because i didn’t want to—“ jisung laughs, almost deliriously. “i didn’t want to ruin our friendship.”

jaemin finally speaks. “can i, uh, jump in real quick?”

everyone looks at jaemin expectantly.

“let me get this straight,” he begins. “jisung likes me, and he likes chenle.”

jisung nods reluctantly. hearing it from someone else’s mouth, jisung wishes he hadn’t told everyone all his secrets.

jaemin continues. “chenle likes jisung, and he likes me.”

chenle nods silently.

“i like chenle, and i like jisung.”

jisung’s head snaps up. “you— what?”

“yeah,” jaemin starts. “i was just too scared to approach you. you always wear so much black, and you always have your earbuds in, and i just got the impression whenever we interacted that you didn’t wanna talk to me.”

jisung’s words die on the top of his tongue. he just shakes his head as the tears come on full force.

“as i was saying,” jaemin keeps going. “we all like each other. i don’t exactly see a problem. we just— we just date.”

“wait— what do you mean?” jisung asks, choking back his tears just long enough for the question.

“like... like we all date each other? all three of us?” chenle looks just as confused as jisung feels.

renjun clears his throat. jisung had forgotten that there were other people in the car. 

“it’s called polyamory,” renjun says. “a lot of people do it, these days.”

“it’s perfectly valid,” donghyuck adds. “and honestly, having two boyfriends is way better than one. i would know,” he giggles ever so slightly.

“wait, what? hyuck, who else are you with?” jaemin asks.

“we’re dating jeno,” renjun says. “now, back to you. you all like each other, so just let everything come naturally.”

jisung sighs, and renjun pulls into jisung’s driveway. 

“actually, renjun— uh, if it’s okay with chenle and jaemin, i’d like to go with them—“

chenle grins. “we’re going to my place, and you’re absolutely welcome to come too!” he reaches across jaemin and grabs jisung’s hands. the two boys rest their hands on jaemin, who covers their hands with his own.

“let’s go, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> aah thanks for reading!! my twitter is @/renjungay hmu


End file.
